


Heir Apparent

by HerenorThereNearnorFar



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Assorted Other Butterflies, Gen, Mewni Mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 15:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10126730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerenorThereNearnorFar/pseuds/HerenorThereNearnorFar
Summary: Post-Starcrushed. Star tells a story about princesses and monsters, and this time she only changes things up a little.





	

 

Moving back into the castle was strange in ways that Star couldn’t describe and definitely didn’t want to put words to.

She didn’t like the idea of running scared, and she didn’t like the idea of retreating and “reassessing”. Unfortunately that was all her mother wanted to do. She’d said a lot about building up reserves of magic and shoring up defenses, and all of it had gone right over Star’s head.

“I need to check up on the Magic High Commission, and your aunts,” Moon fussed as she led Star through the halls of the castle. It was bustling with activity, most of it frantic. Soldiers and servants alike carried weapons. Giant trebuchets were being pulled out of closets, and warnicorns whinnied in the courtyards below. “Your little cousin Lunette is taking your old nursery, I believe, so don’t burst in there like you usually do.”

“Why?” Star asked, arms wrapped around her body, skipping a little to keep up with her mother’s pace. Focusing on the little things was a welcome distraction from the chaos around her and her mom’s battered armor. “She has her own house.”

Lunette lived with her mother and grandmother in a grand palace just a little downwind of the royal palace. She had her own nannies and tutors and whatever else stuffy Great-Aunt Etheria thought a royal child should have, and dribbled all down her pink frilly dresses. Star wasn’t a big fan of human babies- they were just too gross- and her interest in her tiny cousin lessened greatly when she remembered the family members who came attached to her.

Moon hesitated a moment too long before answering. “I thought it might be a good idea if some of the family moved into the castle with us, until this crisis is over,” she said. “I gave your father orders to have your Great-Aunt Etheria and Aunt Celeste and Lunette, and Lady Phoebe and few others summoned before I went to get you.”

Star sucked in a breath as she realized who exactly her mother wanted to keep close. All women, all descended in the direct line from previous Queens of Mewni. All magic users, and all capable of using the wand (safely, to some extent) if it came down to it.

The royal line of succession. No wonder mom wanted them somewhere safe.

“Mom-” she began, but Moon was already pushing her gently in the direction of her bedroom.  
  
“Get some sleep,” she advised. “As soon as the Magic High Commission is- that is to say, as soon as everyone is here, we’ll all have a meeting. I have a lot to tell you. In the meantime, stay safe, sweetheart.”

The queen was stronger than she looked, that or Star was unable to resist her maternal herding in these dire circumstances. She was gently shoved into her room, and then Moon scurried off. It was too queenly to be considered a sprint, but the intent was all there.

She was scared, and had too many places to be, and as always she thought Star wasn’t of use anywhere.

Star sighed and slumped against the door.

Her old room was bigger than the one at the Diaz home, but also a lot more boring. Someone had cleaned it when she was gone and now the weapons were all hanging on the walls, the bed wasn’t bounced in. and her clothes were on their hangers. Some of her things, magically transplanted across dimensions, remained the same but it wasn’t enough. Even her Secrets Closet oozing something green in the corner couldn’t reassure her.

It was all in the wrong places, like a familiar picture folded up wrong to make some horrible image instead. The sounds of Mewni echoed in her ears instead of Mr. Diaz’s scratchy old records and it smelled like stone and smoke instead of Marco. It didn’t feel like home.

Old Star would have fixed that, but after everything she just wanted to take a nap on her over-starched pillows and not wake up until there was something to narwhal blast.

She sat down on the creaking bed instead and called Janna.

“Star! Holy cow, what was that stunt you pulled?! You confessed your love and then disappeared into thin air, and everyone was all _whoa_. Way to end the party with a bang!”

There was a long pause.

“Star, are you okay?”

“No,” Star admitted and flopped back on her bed. “Sorry if I ruined the party.”

“You definitely made it more exciting,” Janna said, which was probably meant to be reassuring in a Janna way.

“Is Marco okay?”

There was a long hiss on the other end of the call. It was already picking up static, which was weird because Star usually had excellent interdimensional service. “Tough question. Last time I saw him he seemed upset, but Jackie was with him, and his parents. I think he’ll be fine. He’s only, like, half as delicate as he seems.”

Star sat back up again, relief flooding through every inch of her body along with a sudden resurgence of sadness. She bounced a few times to stave off the unhappiness and the bed slowly settled back into its old, comfortable sag of defeat. “That’s good to hear,” she said, “I didn’t want to hurt him but I couldn’t leave him on a lie.”

“That makes sense, in a soap opera way,” Janna agreed. “But why did you have to leave? Did something happen on your home planet or realm or wherever? Is everything alright?” She sounded really worried, underneath the flippancy that dripped from her normal existence. Star didn’t want someone else upset on her behalf, not now.

“No, no! I mean, yes, but we’ll fix it! Probably.” She bounced again, stubbornly. Her bedsprings creaked a threat, but she had greater things to worry about.

Janna clicked her tongue. “I’m not going to pressure you because that’s not cool, but if you need to spill, spill. That’s what friends are for. Besides, I’m always down to hear some about horrible things happening to people, you know that.”

Pent up fear and anger and frustration and confusion pressed against Star’s chest, eager to burst out. She couldn’t hold it in for long, and soon the words were rushing out of her in one big tumble.

“Okay, so this really bad guy named Toffee kidnapped Marco a while back and tried to destroy my wand, but it exploded and I thought he was dead? My wand wasn’t destroyed, but somehow part of it got broken in half, and this other bad guy named Ludo got the other half, and has been trying to fight me. You met Ludo, he stole Glossaryck and my spell book. And my mom promised she’d get it back, but now most of her friends are really hurt and she’s scared and she says Toffee is back too. Last time he almost killed Marco, I don’t know what he’ll do with my wand and Glossaryck, and I’ve never seen my mom like this before. She called all my girl cousins to the castle, like she thinks we might need someone else to take the throne or take up the wand. She won’t even tell me what’s really going on, she just made me come home and sent me to my room and left and now I don’t know what’s going to happen and for all I know Toffee could burst in here and murder everyone and then the wand will end up with some stuffy old lady like third cousin Equinoxa and then we’ll all be doomed!”

Star stopped to catch her breath. Janna waited patiently, then when it became apparent that Star had nothing left to say, offered her thoughts.

“I only understood half of that but it sounds pretty rough. Cousins are the worst, man.”

“Yeah,” Star sighed. “And I think my mom wants them here in case I die, or she dies, and that’s not good. I mean, there’s always been other people in line for the throne, but it’s never mattered before. Now she’s getting every Butterfly with the cheek thingys in all of Mewni.”

“Huh,” Janna said. “I always thought the hearts were a stylistic choice.”

There was a crash from the corridor outside. Star ignored it. She clearly wasn’t wanted out there. She’d been told to stay in her room.

“No, they’re matrilillial. Means you go through Mewberty and stuff. Means you get magic too, I guess. And since only girls get them, well, girls and Great Uncle Cosmos but everyone thought he was a girl at first, _and_ you have to get them from your mom, so they’re rare and some of the people with them are barely even related to me. I have to call them my cousins anyway though.” Star stared back at the raftered ceiling moodily, and remembered quickly that she didn’t like being moody. It felt wrong in her insides.

“Matriarchy, cool beans.”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s just a lot of pressure, and I can’t hand it to anyone because only a few people can even use it right and most of them are old and sort of terrible. I know I shouldn’t say that because they’re my family, but sometimes they act really badly, and Mom doesn’t like it at all, so that means I have to be the one to act right.”

“I feel like I should call Marco,” Janna said uncertainly. “You’re kind of sounding emotional. I don’t do emotions.” This was true and fair, but Star desperately wanted a friend at the moment, and she didn’t have friends on Mewni the way she did on earth.

“NO! Marco can’t know about this. He’ll try to help and get himself killed, you know he will. I just… I need someone to talk to. No emotions, I _promise_.“

There was a long pause and then a beep as Janna switched them to video chat. Her face was almost lost in shadow- it was still night, Star noticed belatedly- but her eyes were bright. “We can do emotions, I guess. Or you can tell me more about your cool family history.” Her gaze flickered to the wall behind Star. “Is that a battle ax?”

“My fifth birthday present, “ Star preened, emotional turmoil temporarily forgotten. “I wasn’t allowed to take it to earth because it’s got a curse on it and it would have been too dangerous.”

The grainy little Janna nodded in appreciation. “Nice. So do you have, like, a dungeon too?”

  


Star showed Janna her room, then talked Janna out of stealing Marco’s dimensional scissors because Mewni was probably all shut up against portals anyway; it was standard siege procedure. Then she snuck out of the hall and showed Janna the weapons out there. Queen Moon was nowhere in sight, but soldiers still bustled about making ready for war.

There hadn’t been a war in Star’s lifetime, and now that she was faced with one she found she didn’t like the frantic orderliness of it. Give her a good melee any day. War involved lots of orders and chains of command and casualties. It was too big for her.

As long as she kept talking and Janna kept asking where they kept the torture chamber she could almost ignore the embarrassment and anger and horror coiling under her ribs, so she gave a guided tour. Unfortunately she kept getting in the way of people moving trunks and stacks of books and ancient ballistae around. She made for safer ground, somewhere she knew would probably be quiet. After all, her mom had told her not to go in there, so it stood to reason that no one else would either.

“This is where I lived when I was little,” Star whispered to Janna’s tiny virtual visage as she sidestepped into the royal nursery. It was a multi-room suite, equipped for positive legions of princes and princesses (but mostly princesses). Star had been its sole inhabitant for years, and she knew the pastel bedecked rooms like the back of her hand.

Janna surveyed the scene. “Kind of creepy,” she declared, in a matching whisper. Star thought that was a bit harsh, but not entirely unfounded.

The thin layer of dust that had accumulated over the years was disturbed,, cobwebs torn, and several new trunks sat in the middle of the floor. One was open to reveal jumbled petticoats just big enough for a toddler or a small pig. It looked like someone had tried to pack quickly, and then had abandoned the bags in the middle of the floor.

A faint, nervous voice echoed from Star’s old bedroom.

“And then the good Queen said, ‘I will beat back the monstrous, for life and liberty and corn!’”

Star threw open the door; gently because there was a child in residence. She expected her Aunt Celeste (who was technically her mom’s cousin, and had been born while Moon was still a young queen who needed a reliable line of succession) because Aunt Celeste was quiet and a bit nervy and liked her corn. Instead she found Lunette perched in the lap of a beleaguered looking servant, who leapt to her feet at the sight of Star, nearly catapulting her little cousin into the dusty air.

Instead the babysitter made a handy save, tucked a whining Lunette under her arm and curtseyed.

“Princess Star?” she said, a little uncertainly, like Star’s identity wasn’t a given at this point.

“Uh, yeah. That’s me, Princess Star. Sorry to interupt story time, I just didn’t want to get in the way out there. Lots of things goin’ on in the castle.” A crash from somewhere below them punctuated her remark. Star winced and so did the servant. “I’m showing my friend around,” Star added helpfully, and brandished Janna.

Janna yawned. “Hi.”

“Story!” Lunette demanded, tugging on her caretaker’s sleeve. “I want a story, please.” She had the slightly teary look of a child too close to the edge of a full blown meltdown. Apparently the general stress had trickled down to even the tiniest of minds. Her cheeks were flush with colour that almost obscured the pink crown markings on them. Star’s hand went to her wand automatically. Hopefully the crown wasn't a prophecy, but these things tended to be important. 

“I was reading the story of the Great Monster Massacre,” the servant said helpfully. There was another crash and a shout from outside, her eyes darted to the door.

“Yay, massacres,” Star said, without much enthusiasm her heart sinking even further. Marco had lots of feelings about massacres in general. He tried to phrase them gently for Star’s sake, but eventually he’d end up using big words like ‘historical bias’ and ‘unfair’. Marco’s historical opinions were smart and complicated and very human, but Star couldn’t really argue with them. She wanted to, but she couldn’t. Then, because she wasn’t good at just feeling awful without doing anything, she had an _idea_.

She placed her phone on the dresser next to the door, gave Janna a thumbs up of ‘trust me for a second here’, and sidled over to the servant girl. “I could take over, if you like. My mom hasn’t told me what to do yet, so I’m kind of killing time, and you seem like you have other things to do.” A muffled shout from the hallway backed her up.

“If you’re certain…” the servant said, edging around her boundaries of her words like someone on a precipice.

“I’m the best babysitter,” Star lied cheerfully. It wasn’t even really a lie at this point. She had the wand, and she had Janna, and she was probably better than any of the alternatives.

Besides, it was only one kid, it couldn’t go as badly as last time.

The woman shoved Lunette into Stars arms and beat a hasty retreat with a suggestion of “Maybe don’t sit on her?” There were things to be done, a city to refortify after years of peacetime. Star was left alone with her cousin.

“What are we doing?” Janna whispered from the dresser as Lunette regarded Star cautiously.

“We’re telling a story,” Star said. “But not one about the Great Monster Massacre.”

It was too complicated, and full of politics, and Star didn’t really know where she stood on the past yet, but she knew that she hadn’t like learning that the world wasn’t as simple as storybooks. Best to spare Lunette from all of that.

She might not be able to do much, but she could be a good person, the sort of person Marco would approve of, in this little way.  
  
“I want a princess story.”

“There will be princesses,” Star promised. “Janna, I don’t want to keep you up.”

Janna shrugged and the little image on Star’s phone screen jittered. “No school tomorrow, nothing to do but some light needlework,” Star knew better than to ask what kind of needlework, since she knew Janna wasn’t a petticoats kind of girl, “And I like princess stories.”

Star beamed at the little square of darkness that was either her face or her shoulder. “Janna, you’re the best.”

“Story!” Lunette insisted, squirming in Star’s arms. She was heavier than she looked.Were babies supposed to be this heavy?

The book was still on the floor. Star kicked it aside and settled into the vacated rocking chair. Lunette was an uncertain weight on her legs, shifting and twisting as the chair creaked ominously beneath them. Star patted her cousin’s tiny blonde head and tried to sound reassuring.

“Don’t worry, we’ll fix this soon,” she said, and felt a spark of hope. They would fix this, they had to. They’d beat Toffee, and put the Magic High Commision back together speck by speck if they needed to. They had to, or else it just didn’t bear thinking about. Lunette reached for Star’s wand, tucked behind her back and pressing awkwardly into her spine. Star batted her little hand away. “No, that’s mine. I wish it could be yours, but it’s not. You probably wouldn’t like it anyways, it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

Prophecy or not, she wasn't letting a baby end up with all the responsibility she had been tasked with. If she and mom died the throne would go to Aunt Etheria, and then since Aunt Etheria was old it would pass to Aunt Celeste, and then Lunette would have a whole lot more to worry about that story time. Star couldn't allow that to happen. It wouldn't be fair. 

Bleary blue eyes met Star’s. “I want my mommy,” Lunette confided in a fraught whisper.

“Me too,” Star agreed, “But I think they’re busy. How about that story?”

With another ponderous creak, the chair leaned back, and Star started to feel less like it would tip over at any second. She cleared her throat, used one hand to smooth the wrinkles of uncertainty from the air in front of her, and began:

“Once upon a time there was a very brave and beautiful-”

“Princess!”

“Well, yeah, there is a brave and beautiful princess, but there was also a very brave and beautiful monster named, uh, Big Frog. And he and the princess were friends.”

“ _No_.”

“Excuse me, I think I’m telling this story. Monsters and princesses can be friends, I would know, because I’m a princess.”

There was a huffy silence that suggested arguments against this revelation were not forthcoming but that didn’t mean mindless screaming in protest didn’t require arguments. From her perch on the dresser Janna giggled. Star moved fast before Lunette got any ideas.

“And in addition to the princess and the big kind frog, and all the brave knights and warriors and **nice** monsters, there was a very bad guy. He wasn’t nice. He was actually, like, super evil.” The tension eased, now that the story was back in familiar territory, and Star relaxed. “The princess fought bad guys all the time! She was sure she could fight this one. But he had a trick up his sleeve, and a super evil plan…”

It was better than doing nothing. Star Butterfly had never been good at sitting still.

  
  
  


When Queen Moon found them, Janna was snoring gently but hadn’t hung up, and Star was trapped on the rocking chair with a sleeping baby on her chest. She’d kept talking though, in the interest of not thinking too hard. Now, a few hours in, the fictional princess and all of her companions had died and come back to life on multiple occasions and had, in fact, destroyed the universe twice. That was the danger of long runners.

“I thought I told you to stay in your room.” Moon said softly, but she didn’t sound very upset.

Star pointed mutely at her drooling burden.

Moon crossed the room and scooped the toddler up with practiced ease. “You can move her, you know that?” she asked, transferring Lunette to the slightly musty child’s bed in the middle of the room and tucking her in. 

“I was afraid she’d wake up,” Star yawned, kicking the pins and needles out of her legs. “And I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.” Her phone was the next target of her quest to keep moving, and she picked it up, hung up on Janna, and then busied herself sending a ‘ _thanks 4 the emotional support :)_ ’ text. 

“No, I suppose not.” Moon sighed and rubbed at her eyes. Bags were forming under them, and she had the wan sickly looked that screamed of magical overexertion.

Star reached out a hand and touched her mother’s elbow. “How is everything?” she asked, worried.

“Still not good, but not any worse,” her mother reported. “I’ve called a full war council, all your cousins have finally arrived and all the nobility, and you need to be there too.”

“Really?” It was impossible to keep the excitement out of her voice. It wasn’t that Star was happy about the public crisis, she’d never seen her mother so scared before and it terrified her. She didn’t want to be left alone again though. If Mewni was going to collapse into chaos, she needed to be a part of it.

Moon looked surprised at her vehemence. “Of course. You are the crown princess. I would have asked you to help earlier, but I wanted you rested. You seemed so upset when we came back.”

“I was. _I am_.” Star agreed immediately, pulling her wand out and making for the door. “But I want to fix this. I had lots of ideas while I was talking to Janna, and then more when I was telling my story. I know people who might be able to help us, and there are some battle tactics from earth that sounded promising. I never paid much attention in history, but I liked the fighting bits.”

“That’s my girl,” Moon said, fondly and sadly. “You didn’t get any sleep, did you?”

Star skipped backward, hands moving and hair swishing wildly around her. “Not really, no. So there’s this guy named BuffFrog, great frog person, lives in the swamps, cutest kids ever, and he knows a thing or two about Ludo. We should call him first.”

“That sounds promising.” Moon concurred carefully, “But save it for the meeting. There’s a lot to tell you, so much you don’t know yet.”

The door let them out into the hallway. The bustle had died down a little, and now rather than a mob of soldiers there were regimented lines of guards with hearts on their tunics. A handful stood outside the nursery door, keeping the Butterfly line safe. “You can tell me.” Star assured her mother. “I’m the princess, I can handle it.”

And she could, mostly. She was the princess. She had to.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I made a Butterfly family tree (And watched Game of Flags a million times) for this, and all the characters are more of less based off of background models seen within the show. I just love this family in all their dysfunctional, magical, awful glory so much, and can't wait for monsterkind to rise up and destroy them. You can do this Toffee. It's just a bunch of magical girls with lots of power, a weird fondness for medieval trappings, and terrible communications skills, piece of cake. 
> 
> I'm also on tumblr under the same name! herenortherenearnor.tumblr.com


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